THE FATHER I DID NOT ACKNOWLEDGE

NB: This is a story purely fictional and a result of my active imaginations. It is unrelated to any person dead or alive; any such resemblance is purely coincidental.

Christine was never an advocate for father’s day because she did not see the need for its celebration.
Raised by a single mother when her father abandoned them at childhood, there was no father figure in her life.
She had watched her mother struggle to play the role of both father and mother to herself and her younger sister and never missed the opportunity to show her gratitude on mothers’ day.
The first time she heard of fathers’ day, she was so annoyed and told anyone who would listen how irrelevant it was.
Unfortunately, others did not agree with her since they were fortunate to have their fathers present and supportive.
Thus, she kept her opinion to herself and others who concurred with her. To keep from getting irritated every fathers’ day, she switched off her television set and radio, determined not to listen to what she called undeserved praises. However, she was in a taxi one day and did not have a choice but to listen to people calling in to wish their fathers a happy fathers’ day.
As she quietly sulked, she was surprised when an inner voice spoke to her telling her she too had a father to be thankful for; Her father in heaven. With sudden realization, she run to her room when she got home, knelt by her bed to wish Him happy fathers’ day for the very first time.

Our father in heaven,

You are indeed our father down here on earth. It is a mystery how you can father so many and yet find a special place in each heart. Today is the happiest day of my life because I have come to know I am not fatherless after all. If I knew this earlier, I would have rejected this notion when my friends used to tease me in school. I do not have to see you with my naked eyes to know you are there. I don’t have to hug you to know I am in your arms nor hear you with my ear to know you speak to me because your sheep hear your voice.

When my earthly dad left me at the tender age of six, he left a void in my life I thought no one could fill. I was too young to understand what was going on but I hear he left the country for greener pastures and found it in another woman’s arms, a woman who has given him children. I can still see my mother crying as she held his letter close to her heart beating her chest and cursing him aloud. I did not have to turn eighteen before knowing what a broken heart was; that picture has never left my mind. I am now twenty-three and have never seen daddy again.

If there is one thing I am grateful for, it is the way mummy accepted Jesus in her heart after the incident. I wonder what would have happened to my younger sister and I if you did not heal take away her bitterness. Even though I was very young, I was so angry with the man who had abandoned us and brought tears to the eyes of the woman who gave birth to me.

When my mother called my sister Gloria and I some months after his departure to commit us into your hands and explained you were more than enough for us, I did not comprehend for I was too young. Childhood memories are the greatest indeed for all I felt when I thought of my dad was anger and bitterness. You know how my friends used to tease me in school referring to me as fatherless.

I was too young and defenseless to react because I was ignorant of the fact that, up there was a greater father who loved me more than anyone possibly could. I now understand the words of my mother and the impact it made in my life when she committed us to you.

When she knelt down at your feet and cried out to you to take care of us since she couldn’t raise us alone, I looked on confused but silent because the expression on her face depicted such seriousness. Your answer to her prayer is evident in our lives today.

Gloria is now in medical school and I am in Law school. How did you do this with our mother’s meager salary? Besides, she never remarried or had affairs with men. You never gave me a chance to envy those whose earthly fathers are alive because your provision, protection and power was all I needed to see me through that long rough road.

I wonder if I would have done all those odd jobs to assist my mother if I had a father. Today, I am so versatile and can try my hands on many things. My employers find me indispensable and through this, I can work part-time on a full salary to finish law school. If this favor is not the doing of a heavenly father then I do not know what it is.

You have been so good to me! Despite the beauty you have endowed me and my sister with, your grace has kept us pure and from the path of waywardness. It is sometimes a marvel to me when I see children who were supported by both parents go wayward. You have kept us disciplined and on the part of righteousness whenever we go astray.

When I look at mummy, I am even more surprised. Even though she decided not to marry again, she is so content. Still very beautiful at her age, men continue to pursue her. Her response is always the same, “the day my husband left me, I married the man up there. “Am sorry, I am a married woman.” This has always made me laugh because her determination is unbreakable. You alone can give her such strength.

There are times when I think she trusts you too much at the detriment of our lives but she reminds us that you love us more. The day Tracy was so sick at the brink of death; I remember how she stayed calm as I paced frantically at the hospital ward. When she grabbed me and told me she had committed us to you and that no loving father, would kill his own daughter, my fear vanished. True to this, Tracy is well and better than ever.

I envy such faith and hope you give me same. To trust in an unseen God with all one’s heart is more precious than silver and gold. Those times when we were sent home for school fees, guess who will provide; you. When you provided a full scholarship for Tracy to study medicine, I knew you were a good God indeed.

I have tasted several times and seen that you are good but my awe of you makes me always place you far above. I forget beyond your sovereignty is a God who is also a Father, my father. You did not leave me fatherless. You also sent me the Holy Spirit who is my helper and advocate. Life would have been unbearable.

When my friend Mandy cautioned it was sometimes better not to have a father than to have one who was abusive and irresponsible, I did not agree. I told her I preferred to have one at all cost. However, my stance was questioned when I read the domestic violence magazine. I was shocked to read about fathers who hit and sexually assaulted their own children, those who sent their children as hawkers and some so irresponsible and indescribable.

I agree now, it is better to have no father, than have one who can hurt you so much. When my dad left me, I was so broken but I have come to believe that it is all part of your plan for my life. Sometimes I am quick to dismiss painful events as an attack from the devil. I forget your verse in Jeremiah states the plans you have for me are not meant to harm me.

All this while, I did not know my assault on fathers’ day was an assault against your fatherhood. I did not think a God as big as you might care about a creature as small me; but today I have learnt. You do not only care about me; you love me to the point of sending your only begotten son to die for me so I can live eternally. This is enough evidence that you are my father.

You are the father of the fatherless and a mother of the motherless. If my mum were no more, I would see you as a mother. You are whatever I want you to be; you are amazing. My father is a healer, the great provider, my shepherd, my banner, my righteousness and my peace. He is my redeemer, my savior and my creator.

You are a king so I am a princess and the apple of your eye. You are my sufficiency so I lack no good thing. In you I live, move and have my being. I will no more act like a fatherless child. I will no more envy earthly fathers because I have found much more in you.

You look at my nakedness and I do not run to hide in shame for you have taken away my shame. You have given me many friends up above who are more than those against me down here on earth. What more can I ask for? Who can take your place? No one! You are irreplaceable.

If I have never referred to you as my father, I am sorry. Daddy, dad, papa, father, that’s who you are to me. Today is fathers’ day and I want to tell you this, happy Fathers’ Day. I love you daddy. Happy fathers’ day! happy fathers’ day! happy fathers’ day!

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8 thoughts on “THE FATHER I DID NOT ACKNOWLEDGE”

God is the perfect father. I think for those who haven’t had a good relationship with their earthly father, they may want to call God by another name. As long as we understand the sentiment and have a relationship with God, it doesn’t really matter what we actually call Him.

I am one of those privileged ones who had a wonderful earthly father, so calling God my Father came easy to me. As I’ve grown, I’ve come to realize just how difficult it is for many people to see God as a loving Father or to understand how they have a Father at all.

This is beautiful, especially this: “To trust in an unseen God with all one’s heart is more precious than silver and gold.” My dad is no longer with us, but my Heavenly Father will never leave my side.